Lessons of Customer Engagement from 4 Remarkable Companies

Customer engagement and establishing brand loyalty in customers have been a major focus for many, if not all, companies this year. This concentration will continue until 2014 and will become a priority for companies according to Bluewolf’s annual “The State of Salesforce” report, where 60% of customers ranked customer engagement as top priority.

The ability to connect with customers is not just plain service delivery but establishing long-term customer engagement relations that will benefit both parties in many ways than one. Big Data and social media are just some of the tools utilized by companies to reach customers and build rapport with each individual in their client base.

Huffingtonpost listed four companies that have emphasized on their customer engagement when nobody else was. Here are the 4 companies that became notable for their customer engagement practices which we could all learn from:

Cisco Systems Inc.

This American multinational corporation was awarded Stevie Award for Innovation in Customer Service because of their proactive customer support. They have maximized the use of Google+ to provide customer support via chat, provided a Facebook Support Page with followers that is more than half a million and used LinkedIn to enhance their certification groups. Putting so much effort and expertise in multichannel customer service has saved Cisco from losing 200 million dollars per year in case deflection. Their credibility as a networking systems provider have earned accreditation among business institutions, and that having a Cisco certification merits a great advantage when applying in any company—a customer engagement effort that definitely creates an impact.

Microsoft Corporation

When Microsoft faced customer issues, they began engaging their customers through social media which resulted to remarkable changes in their customer satisfaction ratings. The significant improvement in their support and information delivery is evident in their simple and easy to navigate support community. Microsoft created an avenue for customers to enjoy self-service options, watch videos and created high level engagement badges such as guardian for reporting abuse, quickest answer badge, content creator and curator, most important answer of the week badge among others.

Zappos.com

Famous for its excellent customer service, Zappos surely knows how to deal with negative feedback with a bit of humor. When Kanye West dissed Zappos publicly to get back at its CEO Tony Hsieh, the company responded with a funny retort posted on their website which led to thousands of comments and shares. However, Zappos does not only show that they have social media authority down pat but they also make sure their social involvement transcends offline, like the building of the Downtown Project in downtown Las Vegas resulting to 438 new jobs.

Sephora

The interaction initiated by Sephora with their customers has encouraged more consumers to test their product, buy it, and eventually stick with it. This effect was brought about by their gamification program that offers exciting returns for their consumers such as rewards and quality customer service. This online customer engagement extends to their retail stores where they allow potential customers to try on their products and offer tips on how to use each product effectively. And because customers have tried the product and were equipped by Sephora experts themselves, more consumers patronize them and even enthusiastically promote it to others.

Our Takeaway

Make your company’s customer engagement more intentional and interactive. Quality customer service should not differ regardless if you are dealing with customers online or in person. The key is to make sure that your customers walk out of your stores or log off from your support communities with joy and satisfaction because you prioritized them. Share us your takeaways by leaving your comments on the comment section below!

Al, having almost a decade of experience in the outsourcing industry, brings to the company an expertise in handling and implementing strategies for corporate and resource development. Al started his participation in the industry as a Customer Support agent for international BPO company in 2003 and continued to stay in the field of outsourcing, learning its ins and outs. Al’s extensive experience has a major contribution in paving the way for Infinit-O to offer Research services to its clients. Al was awarded a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Scholarship, which is one of the prestigious scholarships in the Philippines, upon entering the University of the Philippines.